A method for repairing a damaged scapho-lunate ligament of a scapho-lunate bones of a patient, comprising:
- making a dorsal wrist incision in a wrist region, the wrist region comprising an ulnar side, a radial side, a base of a palm, a carpal tunnel and a wrist crease;
- exposing the scaphoid and lunate bones;
- reducing the scaphoid and lunate bones into positions approximating a normal anatomical alignment of the scaphoid bone and lunate bone;
- partially drilling a first passageway into a dorsal cortex of the scaphoid bone and a second passageway into a dorsal cortex of the lunate bone, each passageway comprising a dorsal opening, wherein the dorsal opening is spaced about 3 to 4 mm from the scapho-lunate ligament located between the scaphoid bone and lunate bone;
- placing guide wires into the dorsal openings of the first and second passageways extending in the scaphoid and lunate bones;
- passing tubular structures over the guide wires to the dorsal openings of the first and second passageways extending in the scaphoid and lunate bones;
- using a drill guide to complete drilling of the first and second passageways through the scaphoid and lunate bones to form a volar opening at volar cortex of each of the scaphoid bone and lunate bone, wherein each of the first and second passageways form an angle of about 30 to 40 degrees from a perpendicular axis to the respective dorsal cortices of the scaphoid bone and lunate bone, away from the scapho-lunate ligament;
- making a volar wrist incision at the base of the palm, starting at a proximal extent of the carpal tunnel to a point 2 centimeters proximal to the wrist crease;
- exposing the volar wrist capsule to locate the tubular structures on volar surface of the scaphoid bone and lunate bone;
- passing a first suture retriever through one of the first or second passageways;
- inserting a first end region of a retaining structure into the first suture retriever;
- pulling the retaining structure through the one of the first or second passageway using the first suture retriever;
- passing a second suture retriever through the other of the first or second passageways;
- inserting a second end of the retaining structure into the second suture retriever;
- pulling the retaining structure through the other of the first or second passageways using the second suture retriever;
- and
- connecting and securing the first and the second end regions of the retaining structure to each other to resist separation of the retaining structure from the scaphoid bone and lunate bone and to maintain the normal anatomical alignment of the scaphoid bone and lunate bone.